A number of UK supermarkets will be adding a new, sweet tasting, long-stemmed broccoli to their ranges this month with the addition of the Bellaverde variety.

Developed by Seminis and Marshalls, the vegetable has been designed to offer consumers a less bitter-tasting broccoli, while also boasting a long UK season before switching production to a dedicated farm in Spain to ensure year-round supply.

'Bellaverde is a traditional broccoli and so like other broccolis is healthy, the king of superfoods,' said Catriona Mowbray, marketing manager for Marshalls. 'Bellaverde is a true pure broccoli, meaning it has not been crossed with another vegetable. Consumers preferred the taste of a Bellaverde to other long-stemmed broccolis in our preference testing and sensory research so we believe it has great potential.'

Taking its name from the Italian for 'beautiful green' because of its vibrant colour, the Bellaverde variety will be available in 200g punnets and will be initially launched at Sainsbury's before being rolled out across other major retailers.

The variety's marketing will be supported by a PR campaign headed up by celebrity chef Gino D'Acampo, including recipe development, media briefings and sample drops, in-store tastings, recipe cards, point-of-sale shelf barkers, concertina tip-on round recipe leaflet stickers and a consumer website.

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